A/N

Last chapter was a bit of a calmer one. Yeah… that was last chapter. Testa has some… issuesthat he'll need to overcome on this journey.

Enjoy (I promise that his issues get better… for a given definition of better…*cough maybe less cringy COUGH*)

I don't own Pokemon. Oh well.

After getting through yesterday's training, all four team members were exhausted. At that point I went ahead and bought some Sitrus berries from a vendor in Pewter for the start of the season. Everyone was cheered and gobbled them down, happy to have improved and gotten delicious berries for it. The next day I set out for the base of Mt. Moon, perfectly aware that trainers would be swarming the place to train for Brock.

Or at least… they should've been.

I was staring around in confusion at the lack any of trainers anywhere nearby, when suddenly hearing footsteps I frantically looked around and hid in a patch of thick brush near the mountainside, a bit afraid that I'd look like that weird guy just glancing around for no reason. The people approached at a leisurely pace, seeming completely carefree about all the world.

No sane trainer would ever do that without some important reason. It was practically beaten into us with all the textbooks we had to go through, time and time again, they stressed to always be on guard. Often times several times within a passage to be careful when dealing with a situation.

Begs the question of why. Split commented, suspicious but not forthcoming with his… was that fear? Alright, answer me this Split, is this one going to be worse than that time at the ranch where we almost got run over?

Boy, if that is your worst case then you may want to go back to Pallet. He said dryly, as I just now noticed that he wasn't using an accent.

Beginning to sweat the possibilities, I made sure to stay as quiet as possible as they passed, not even willing to glance up and possibly catch their attention with-

"Did you see that guy's face? pfffff-HA!" One of them snorted in glee.

"Yes, for the third time, I did. We all did wise-guy. Now shut up."

"Aw c'moooon man, no need to be so down. Not like these newbies can even give us an entertaining fight, there's nothing to worry about. Besides, I saw you laughing at that eye-offending red hair lit up in flames. He might have even looked cool if not for the screams that twisted his face"

I froze hearing this, and almost shook it off, not wanting to consider the possibility when the second one spoke up again.

"The only thing about him that could even come close to being considered 'cool' on that guy was his damned team. That Ampharos was a monster."

I lost it. I was done with this waiting around bullshit and I ran out to fight, blind with rage at the implications of what those two said. I could hear Split shouting something, trying to wrest control but the roar of the flames of anger was far too strong for anything but a slight headache.

Ignoring it, my face slipped into the cold mask, devoid of anything but a thin-lipped frown. I fumbled with my sweatshirt pockets for a moment, unwilling to make a loud noise and take away from the part of hunting I enjoyed the most. These bastards were going to pay.

The mask cracked momentarily as a crazed grin slid onto my face, back tingling as I recalled all of the good times there were, back when he cared. Back when they were still there instead of gone.

I shoved both the pit of despair and the crazed smile into the dark depths, I'll deal with it later, I told myself for the hundredth time. Right now, I want some satisfaction.

Finally whipping out a Pokeball, I released the one who would be able to help the best in this situation. I asked him to shadow those two and stay around them in somewhat of a circle, throwing rocks from behind whenever a bush rustled in front of the two. He nodded hesitantly, but didn't question it and got to work.

I followed them from a bit behind and to the left, so I could see their full black outfits, but not the front. Not like it mattered.

They were going to suffer anyway. I made a quiet gurgling sound in the back of my throat like a quiet stream. Ju~st enough for them to hear it, but not enough to startle them. Not yet.

I kept it up and followed them around for almost ten minutes, then abruptly cut out the noise. Immediately, both of them tensed up, looking around in confusion. Poor fools probably didn't even realize what they thought was wrong.

After another couple minutes, I firmly grabbed a tree and shook it, making them turn around which also caused a small rock to hit one of them on the back of his head.

"What in the… why the hell are you throwing pebbles at me?"

The second one sounded relatively calm, but wary all the same. "That wasn't me,"

Grinning in anticipation, I had crept over to the opposite side as they focused all of their attention near the tree that I'd shook. I snickered quietly, making them turn every which was as they searched. They were good and tense now, and seeing this I stepped out of the brush.

"Wait!" I called outwith wide, innocent eyes, knowing full well that their own would lock onto me the second I was out of the brush.

Smirking, I allowed the crazed look to creep into my eyes, thankfully lessening the pounding headache I had just a touch as they began to slowly reach for their Pokeballs.

"Let's begin, shall we," My lip began to curl into a smile before I turned it into a snarl. "Rockets?"

Whipping out a Pokeball before they could respond, I picked the one who would enjoy this the most. It would be quite fun after all, and the more the merrier.

"Use Lava Plume," I spat without a hint of pity.

As their Ekans and Drowzee coalesced, they quickly wished that they hadn't when they were blasted with a wave of intense fire, leaving scorch marks and instantly knocking them out.

The first Rocket gained a giddy smile of his own, utter madness in his eyes as the taller one only eyed his partner and backed up, not wanting to get hit with that wave of fire that the Pokemon had blocked for him and his ally.

I turned my full attention to the first as he grabbed another Pokeball and sent out a Golbat, still eager for some fun of his own.

I glanced at Numel, knowing how he was with his power allocation. He was breathing a bit heavier than usual but it looked like he'd listened for once in the face of two enemies.

"Make sure it can't hit you, use Ember to wall it off and Ancientpower to take it out."

The Golbat I hadn't even watched be released swooped in as Numel spat quick little sparks on the ground and focused on gathering energy for the rock type attack, and as Numel grunted and let off the tiniest pulse of a Lava Plume, only barely enough to reach around himself; igniting the sparks that exploded into large pillars, burning the flying type as he screeched and backed off immediately.

I was very happy to see Numel's new technique working, since he had no real stamina he needed to conserve it at every chance he could get. Why not lure in the enemy to deal even more damage and save energy?

The Ancientpower burst through the remnants of the flames, barreling into the scorched Golbat and knocking it to the ground as the Grunt began to back up and adopt a nervous look on his face.

"Looking nervous doesn't work when your eyes scream 'walk forward and see what happens' you know," I said with a deepening frown. I might be angry but sudden changes in demeanor like that just don't happen. I should know.

I snapped my fingers and loudly exclaimed as my expression flipped faster than the delicious pancakes he used to make, "If your trap is seen through it never ends well. It may in fact, Sting quite badly."

As the sound of a body dropping echoed out right in front of me, I stepped over the body that fell out of the trees and brought out Skorupi. "Now listen carefully, Rocket," I said in a sickly sweet tone. "Either you are going to tell me what the hell you guys are doing in Mount Moon that you need a damned patrol, or Skorupi here is going to practice using Pursuit on your sorry ass as I allow you to run. It'll hurt all the worse and fill you with even more despair when you fall to your knees and die of the potent poison he has." I snarled, slipping back into the deathly sweet tone near the end.

His eyes hardened and he smirked after a moment of looking back and forth between me and Skorupi. "You're just a new trainer, you don't have the guts to do anything to me." He said confidently.

I simply smiled. "You're right," I said quietly, smile widening as he grew confused and a bit of fear crept into his eyes. "I don't." My amusement growing, it along with my smile abruptly cut off as I gave the next order. "Numel. Ember his hair."

He just snorted and fired off a spark that lit the man's hair up like a candle.

The man's eyes looked like a bug types' compound eyes that bulge out of their head as he frantically rolled around screaming bloody murder, and shoved his head into the ground. I heard a loud crackling behind me and turned to see the brush igniting. I distractedly tossed out Arroyo's Pokeball and asked her to put out the fires before they got out of hand.

As he stopped screaming and flopped onto the ground like he'd run a marathon I slowly turned back to him with closed eyes, a tilted head, and a small smile that promised pain. "Still care to test that theory?"

When he spilled like a cup of coffee, telling about the goal of "capturing trainers" and "shipping off their Pokemon" to someplace he was unaware of. I believed him solely because no one would tell the full plan to grunts, especially patrol grunts like these. Speaking of patrol… "When's your next check in."

"Eh? W-what check in, I don't know of any check-ins around here," He mumbled

"Numel."

"WAIT WAIT WAIT! It's five minutes from now, but we both have to be there, and with him being knocked out, the whole of Team Rocket will come down on your head!" He said, brimming with confidence once more.

I shrugged. "Okay. This'll Sting a bit." I gestured with my head, confusing the grunt as he seemed to remember his partner's fall just before his neck went limp as his vision was filled with a bright pink and blue, then faded into unconsciousness.

Running a hand down my face, I contemplated my options at this point. I could run back to Pewter, try and get some help, and probably have them gone with all of the trainers' Pokemon, or I could run in there and try to fight. The former sounded like a better idea, but, the thought of tens of trainers left without their precious Pokemon was… heartbreaking.

Sighing, I turned back to the team. "Alright guys, we have five minutes to plan out what we're doing to get those Pokemon back to their trainers."

Usually, walking into a cave one knew was filled with violent criminals was considered a worst case scenario, or at LEAST a bad idea. Even more so when said criminals were part of a larger organization.

The events happening were not usual.

As such, when there were no people hiding near the entryway, I had to signal Sting to stay hidden and keep trailing for when I did need his help.

The only way this had any chance of working was if we could slip past all the grunts on the way to wherever they were keeping the Pokemon, yet another obstacle to success.

The odds may not have been in our favor, but a try wouldn't end up so badly if Numel could take on two grunts by himself, right? My mind was not the slightest bit reassuring if my clenched teeth were any indication.

Creeping further into the caves, I tensed at the slightest sounds, aware that one wrong move could disrupt the whole plan in an instant, especially when they relayed that the outer patrol that I'd taken care of didn't report; I needed to be fast. As patrols passed by, I was lucky enough that there was always a side passage nearby to hide in and escape detection.

Reaching a brightly lit room, I stopped and hovered near the entrance, aware that the next round shouldn't be back to this spot for another ten minutes.

Hearing a commotion further in, I crept closer, unwilling to go too far but insatiably curious. I had to slap a hand to my mouth to muffle the gasp that would have made this whole trip less than worthless as Sting was dragged into a side cave that, assumedly, held all of the Pokemon that had been captured.

The only hope was to make it into that cave, the question left was how, since without knowing the layout beforehand, the was no way to plan for this step and prepare a reaction.

Figuring that the patrols would swap out again in just a few minutes, I figured that would be my chance, just as people got ready to head back out and relax, and let their guard down.

I gripped the Pokeball tightly, worried and scared out of my wits about everything that could go wrong in the next few minutes. Closing my eyes and breathing deeply, I felt something wrong and turned around to the grunts trying to sneak up on me. Eyes widening in panic, I immediately tossed the Pokeball from my hand in front of me to reveal the loyal poison type who had saved me in the last does situation and had the best stealth skills along the party. He was meant to be able to sneak over and cause a distraction so I could slip past, but that plan crashed and burned moments ago.

"Quickly!" I shouted frantically, knowing that whatever happened now, the entire cave would know, "slip into Agility and knock out those grunts! They caught Sting!"

Skorupi tensed at those last words, knowing full well that meant there was no backup if things went wrong. Or in this case, worse.

I left those two to him for a moment as I enjoyed around and released Numel, but with his still being tired from fighting there other two grunts, there was no way he'd be able to do anything but stall for a few moments."Hold them off for just a minute! It'll be fine in a minute guys just hang on for me!" I shouted in panic, knowing there would be one shot at this and if anything else went wrong, that was it. I was done, all the young trainers in here were done, and every last one of our precious Pokemon would be gone, probably forever.

Limbs surging with adrenaline, I sprinted over to the side cave in a mad rush, trusting both team members to distract them for just the few seconds that I would need to make it across the cave.

A few attacks came flying my way, but in jumping over there rocky insides of the cave, I put myself outside of the trajectory of most, only getting stuck with a few glancing blows that I could shrug off with more adrenaline than a newly evolved Machamp lifting a stampeding Mamoswine.

Finally reaching the room, I noticed a scientist seemingly cataloging all of that Pokemon they had captured, unaware of my presence courtesy of the earbuds jammed into his head. I snorted and quickly brought and Arroyo, asking her to water gun him into the wall, and with all the pressure training done yesterday, it was more than enough to knock him into the wall and unconsciousness.

Grabbing as many Pokeballs as I could of there shelves, I yelled out to all of the Pokemon previously trapped within the confines of the shelves, "Quickly, go! Find your trainers, work together to free them and get revenge on Team Rocket!"

With the chaos that followed, I scrambled to release all of the Pokemon in the room, searching every nook and cranny for one in particular.

Finally grasping the right one, I released my oldest friend on the team and welcomed him back. Snapping back into being serious, I doubted that Numel was still able to fight very well, especially considering that all of his attacks were wide area ones, leaving him unable to continue without damaging most of his new allies as well.

Preparing to charge through the chaos and point out the grunts for Sting to take out, the noise began to change from angry shouts and the vengeful cries of Pokemon, it suddenly shifted to fearful Pokemon cries and cruel laughter.

A shiver rushed down my spine at the thought of what could cause hundreds of angry Pokemon to flee, and I was not disappointed at all when the monstrously large Weezing floated into view, freezing in fear and throwing a hand out to stop Sting from shooting forward to fight it. If all of those Pokemon feared it, there would be a good reason.

The thing would murder Sting before he could do any damage, Immunity or no. That, of all things, was not going to happen while I had any say.

"What do you people want, why are you taking these Pokemon?!" I shouted desperately, hoping Skorupi could slip away at the very least. Then he might be able to survive and maybe even make it back to Viridian to live out a quiet life.

A man in a black suit with a cap on covering most of his aquamarine hair casually walked out from around the doorway, though it was easy to tell he was no grunt. No one at that level would have the ability to mask such cold fury under a cruel smile without any other tells.

"Why pray tell, do you want to know, boy? It's not like it matters what your answer is but I am curious as to what would make one such as yourself, who was smart enough to attempt stealth to get into the base of operations, to go ahead and attack us? The smart choice would have been to keep your nose out of business that isn't yours." He glared, eye boring into my soul as I balled up my fists and tried to balance not panicking and coming up with a plan to last even a moment longer.

Split? Split! I need help, something, anything, just some way to get out of here alive, without sacrificing the team. I cried out in my mind, out of options at this point.

I… His voice echoed with a tinge of regret, have no way out. This might be the end of the line. For what it's worth, your not as bad as most new trainers I've seen. And I have seen many trainers in my time.

Looking the man in the eyes, I turned my eyes down with a pained grimace and asked him the all-important question at the moment. "And if I surrender? What happens to my Pokemon?"

His eyes lit up with pure glee for just a second before skillfully masking it with a calm facade. "And what do you think will happen if you go ahead and come quietly?" He asked teasingly, enjoying the situation.

"I would hope that they would be let go, but knowing my situation I'm not sure if that's what we can hope for, I assume you've taken the precaution of filling the other room with a significant amount of gas to poison anyone trying to escape?" I asked with a small tilt of the head, still having a grimace marring my features for the moment.

"Yeeees, well, you see, foolish boy, by invading our facility back here and making all of these poor Pokemon run around like headless chickens instead of being in their little storage containers, you must be punished. And I happen to have just the best idea in all the world, and you'll get to play a part!" He exclaimed, no longer hiding the cruelest of grins as it grew wider than ever. "All you have to do is choose which two of your party will die, and the rest can run free. Sound fun?"

I looked past him, pupils shrinking down and clenching every muscle in my body to not do something even dumber and charge at this bastard for suggesting this idea.

"You said in the party, yes?" I asked carefully.

He just laughed, not caring in the slightest. "I suppose that I shall give you that slip up, there can be no real harm done when you have no Pokemon."

"I'm the first and the second… give me a few minutes." I sat down against a wall, running a hand through my hair. Heedless of Sting's cries as I recalled him.

The man looked surprised and contemplative for a moment, obviously not expecting this outcome.

"You've got guts kid, you sure you wouldn't like to join us?" As I shot him a glare that could kill a Gastly, he hid a flinch by smirking. "I suppose that was a long shot, oh well. Just make sure you choose quickly, I won't wait forever on this generous offer you know."

Rubbing my head in an agonizing decision, I could only swallow thickly and release Sting back into the world for comfort, burying my head and protectively squeezing him in my arms. If he saw a few tears drop, I knew he wouldn't judge me for it as I whispered into his ear.

After a few minutes had passed, Petrel had grown bored and released a disgusted grunt. "Alright kid, that's enough time. Better tell me your choices."

"I…" beginning hesitantly, I did my best to keep my voice steady, clearing all thoughts but talking to him for the time being. "I choose to sacrifice myself and-ONSLAUGHT!" I screamed, desperately sprinting and leaping the few feet separating myself and the hulking poison type that would be able to crush Sting flat at the moment it took to focus and call upon the three move combo.

As Sting finally slipped into Quick Attack after setting up the other two effects, dashing through the doorway and escaping towards the mouth of the cave. With how rare Shellos were, and the intoxicatingly exotic power of Numel, there was no way they'd let either of them free. Skorupi- I'd admit, they probably wouldn't have a good reason to keep him. But why take even less valuable Pokemon like the staples of the Nidorans, Weedle and Caterpie lines, or the odd Geodude. No, Skorupi would not be allowed to escape either.

I coughed and gagged violently as the rancid smog of Weezing began to burn a track through my lungs, still refusing to let go. They would get their sacrifice, but, Sting would escape, at the very least…

All I had the strength left to say was an overly hopeful statement. Have fun, Sting… as everything faded to black.

Waking up to a dark ceiling as Zubat's quiet calls echoed throughout the air, I could only stare up sleepily at the dark… ceiling? Oh wait, I thought, realizing that the air was too fresh and cold for this to be inside the caves. How did I get outside? I asked sluggishly, not remembering anything that had happened since we finally named Sting's technique, settling on Onslaught, since that was probably going to be the main use for it.

Onslaught, why did that fill me with so much sadness…? You've been out for quite a while kid. Almost a day by my count. Split said cautiously, as if worried.

What happened to me? Oooohh it feels worse than that time we tried to ride the professor's Dragonite… I groaned.

Yes that's all well and good but can you maybe stop trying to get us killed? There are two reasons you're alive right now; me, and the young woman who has been behind you listening to your muttering for the past few minutes. Treat her with respect or so help me you will be unable to take a god damned NAP without me kicking you awake from in here.

Being the smartass that I am, I almost went ahead and told him that he can't kick me from within my mind, but I was tired and he had saved from dying, so it wouldn't kill me to listen to him when he was giving advice on not dying. Hopefully.

I tried to sit up on the makeshift bed only to quickly be shoved back down. She had hair that looked like a shade of white, but had a blue tint to the long hair, reaching down below her neck and fanning out into what looked like feathers, three spreading out behind her on each side. I groggily realized that she was in fact scolding me the whole time I was looking at her. "-trying to get yourself killed! By all rights, you should be dead. GONE! All of your family, all your friends, all your teachers would never hear from you again, not even knowing what happened to you." Angrily pacing, she looked as if she wanted to say more but cut herself off, adopting a softer look for a moment as she grabbed both shoulders and shook me lightly. "Whatever happens, remember that those people would want you to live."

I was struck by the memory of Sting's cries behind me that happened just minutes ago in my memories, knowing he must have been- "Wh-"coughing and retching for a moment, she patiently waited until it finally subsided. "What happened to Sting? My-my Gligar, he's out there somewhere, a-and the rest of my team, a Numel, a Skorupi were out, I'm not sure if they took Shellos' Pokeball either," I finished raspily, consumed with worry about leaving them. I was uncomfortably aware that I'd been unable to do any better and actually make a difference for them. "And ahh, what is your name exactly?"

Her expression twitched into surprise, for what reason I couldn't guess but her staring on for a moment was a touch aggravating, but recalling what was said to me about being respectful, I kept my mouth shut this time.

"I'm Kahili, and he's out looking for some firewood right now but your Gligar found me just outside the cave, frantic. He was gesturing all around and thankfully Salvus was there to help me understand. I ran over, took out the Rocket Executive who was in charge and dragged you out of there. Thankfully for you, Sal-my Tropius knows Aromatherapy, so you didn't die to Weezing's poison. You're welcome. But…" she trailed off, "I don't know where the rest of your team could be, most of the Pokemon have led their trainers trickling in and grabbed their Pokeballs to leave."

Running a hand across my belt, I sighed when all four Pokeballs were still there, meaning all I had to do now was-"Oh no you don't, mister 'I'm going to jump at a Weezing and hope nothing goes wrong,' you are not going into that cave to look for your Pokemon." I was an instant away from protesting when she held out her hand. "I will get them for you, just relax and don't die while I'm gone, got it?"

When I shrank back a bit and adopted a stubborn look, I was promptly pinned with a mild glare and felt a touch guilty. This was currently warring with my selfish desire to go find them myself and apologize, if only for the sake of my own sanity. They were all that were tethering it here now that the other three had gone ahead. I would do anything to avoid falling apart at the seams a second time, there is no worse fate in my mind.

Shaking myself out of another reverie, I sighed and handed over the Pokeballs, knowing full well that I shouldn't be up and moving directly after inhaling highly toxic gas of all things.
Knowing I should be resting didn't help anything, it was all I could muster to not run out there and try to find them myself, guilt gnawing like termites in a dying tree.

As a faint whooshing sound echoed out nearby, I huffed and turned back over, not wanting to stare at her Pokemon and be awkward for the short time I'd know any of them.

As something heavy flopped onto my back with a joyous cry, I stiffened and rolled over, swatting at his head. "Can't just run away and be happy, huh?" Unable to stop the genuine smile from spreading across my face, I gave up and smiled wide at Sting.

The one who came back.

Sighing in relief, I chattered about how we would be better, how this wouldn't happen again, and what I had planned next for the team, once they finished learning the more powerful moves.

Seeing him nod along at the ideas, I became increasingly animated in my expressions, eventually spreading out my arms and giving full detailed explanations of why they wou-will be such powerful strategies.

I was abruptly jerked out of a strategy (something pertaining to having Numel do A and then Sting could do B and Arroyo might be able to pull off C if Sting did D at the same time as B and so on) by snickering. I whipped around faster than a speeding bullet and only kept Sting from getting flipped away by holding onto him with both hands like a child's teddy bear.

Upon seeing me, she burst into laughter, doubling over and gasping for breath for minutes before she calmed down enough to stop collapsing repeatedly. Even with a face that still looked like a cherry soda, I was nonetheless displeased about my being taken as a joke.

"It's not that funny you know."

"I'm-no, I'm really not that sorry, that was great." A cruel grin was spread all across her face by this point. "Now kid, you've done pretty well so far from what I can see. Your Numel had a circle of scorched Team Rocket Pokemon around him, so he's obviously powerful. That Skorupi of yours was taking out enemies on the fringes if the Rattata all around the area were any tell. There's just one problem. You could be so much better with them. I can tell that you're having them learn the basics of tougher moves, but they have no battle experience. Gligar's the only one on your team-except maybe that Shellos you have-who has any battle proven mettle." Clearing her throat and straightening up, she grinned and gave a confident grin. "I might be able to tell a bit better if you wanna go for a quick battle once they're healed up, the only condition is that you take them to a Pokemon Center and make sure nothing went permanently wrong. We don't wanna any crippling injuries creeping up."

Easily agreeing to the requirement, I wondered just how strong she was to be able to take on Proton, and without much difficulty. Speaking of, "What happened to Team Rocket anyway?"

Her knuckles clenched in on themselves and it was at this moment, Testa knew, he fucked up. "Why, they had a helicopter that they called in to escape. With heavy weaponry on board. They're going to be missing a limb of their own the next time we see them." I was more than tempted to scoot away as she seethed, though from past experience moving would only draw ire when someone was in such a state. Sitting as still as a statue, I murmured to Sting to not move an inch, or we'd both be in for it. Her Rufflet-that until then I hadn't noticed-attempted to calm her down a bit and puffed up when she looked down and away from him.

Brushing aside my hesitation, I stood up and started over at her, grin a mile wide.

"Let's make a promise then. We'll pay 'em back in full. One way or another."

Snorting, she shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Why not kid. Maybe you'll be good enough to challenge even one of my Pokemon by the time we get there." Her eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn't identify before they blinked and stared blankly at the ceiling, the tiniest of grins on her face.

I hated it when grown-ups did that, but I'd let it slide this time. I might as well be nice while I before I slipped up at some point and got into an argument.

Not like respecting someone could ever do any harm, right?

**********************************

The walk to Cerulean was blissfully uneventful, I wanted to be able to keep all our strategies a secret to the last moment, and hopefully do some meaningful damage. There was almost no chance of victory against a trainer of her caliber, I knew.

Wouldn't exactly hurt to get some help from such a trainer though.

"What were you doing at Mt. Moon anyway?"

She tilted her head to the side as I asked the question, all we'd really been doing as we walked side by side was asking questions back and forth, but so far we'd stuck to wider questions like what our goals were or how long we'd been training. "I've been wandering around, I'm looking for a Skarmory but they're so elusive, and almost never show up in Alola."

I could understand that, Skarmory were the premier defensive flying type, and while not as fast as most others, were for the most part impervious to the attacks of other flying types. Unless of course you were talking about dragon and flying types (or the odd Charizard), you would win most aerial battles with a Skarmory.

"So why Gligar, if you don't mind?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, why choose a Gligar as your starter?"

"Wha-How did you know?"

Putting a hand to her face and sighing at the question, she chuckled and responded after a moment of thought, "You know how some people have issues with favoritism of their kids and such? It's like that but quite a bit more subtle. He's definitely your most well rounded Pokemon, and with that… whatever it was technique with Agility, he might be your strongest as well, or at least give Numel a run for his money."

Thinking over it, she was definitely right at the moment, and I needed to get it in gear if I wanted the team to be around the same level as each other, or there'd be a huge gap in between the strength of the team members. "Well, mostly it was… my old man and liking Giovanni. I admire Giovanni, I want to beat him on even ground some day, and my old man was-he used electric types, and he was a complete- err… he wasn't a nice person after mom… i-it's complicated." Trailing off, I clenched my eyes and shut my mouth before I went down that road again.

Kahili on the other hand was nearly having a quiet panic attack on what to say with a kid about to break down in front of her. Do I comfort the kid? Do-am I supposed to give this kid a hug? He's had a shitty time by the sound of it… probably some issues the brat's gotta work through. Should I give the kid any help here? He seems to be fine with it now but he's- aw crap here it comes, oooohhhhh the shut eyes too. Shit.

"Hey, hey kid calm down, c'mon it's not-you'll-" Sighing heavily, she mumbled "Don't say I didn't warn you," as she drew her hand back.

The resounding SMACK echoed for a moment in the open air, shocking the redhead into quieting down and looking at Kahili in disbelief.

Letting out my own sigh upon looking back at what was about to happen, I was, in fact, a touch grateful that situation had been averted. The method, on the other hand, left much to be desired.

"You didn't have to slap me hard enough to leave a mark for what'll probably be days you know." Recovering from the shock, I nodded gratefully as I gave my dry response.

"Well… lesson learned. Don't get your feelings all out around me, got it brat?"

"Yeah, yeah, Granny,"

Snorting, she laughed abruptly and began the questionnaire anew, once again chatting back and forth with inane topics until we reached Cerulean.

The Pokemon Center was headed by a kindly Nurse Joy as usual, and everybody was fine, though Kahili wrote a note out of my reach and the Nurse frowned but glanced away after a moment. "Ms, you may want to try Erika, or perhaps Lance could help for a time if you are who I think I've heard of, but catching him in his schedule at the moment would be… difficult, to say the least. Best of luck," she finished sorrowfully.

My head hurt from looking back and forth to discern what this was about, to no avail. Mildly annoyed, I resolved to ask after we went back outside.

"Reminds me, kid, what's with the scar on your lower back? Before you freak out, we're just outside a Pokemon Center in the middle of a city, and I needed to make sure you didn't have any more wounds that would kill you after that Weezing crap you pulled."

"Wh-oh. The one over," I gestured to my fairly new wound that would certainly scar, "here? That… there was an accident with Skorupi's tail and it got stuck in my back…"

"Holy shit kid, when did you get checked out for it? It looks like that was the worst doc ever."

"Good thing I'm not a doc then eh?"

She stared with a frown on her lips for a moment, shook her head as if to clear her mind, reached to her belt and grabbed a Pokeball.

As the (relatively) massive grass type appeared, I thought through my options as I looked up to its head, glancing for weak spots over the whole of the enemy's bod-freezing up as I noticed it, I looked at Kahili with wide eyes as it all clicked together.

Her Tropius had a raw, puckered, stump in the where it's front left leg should be.

"Wh-you were being literal on the cave!" I blurted.

With her voice down to a whisper, I nearly had to lean in to catch the words with a sharp bitter edge to them, "Yes, they will quite literally be missing a limb of their own when we get to them."

"Now kid, get on to the fight. You can send out as many as you want, but you'll be fighting Tropius here. Neither of us are much for nicknames, so you'll probably be able to tell what we're doing just before it happens if that's any help, you're going to need it."

Thinking through what Tropius specifically could do, I came up blank. All I remembered was that they're big, tough, and unusually resilient wings could be amazing shields. If you want, I could handle it for ya' kiddo.

In your dreams Split, I'm taking her down myself. It's one Tropius against four separate Pokemon, and even if they're younger three of them have big type advantages. Smirking as I reached for my belt, I pulled out all four Pokeballs and threw them open.

"Here we go guys, Kahili is going to be tough but it's four on one at the moment, make sure to split up and watch out for those wings, they're great shields and probably pack a nasty punch before they get powered up with a Wing Attack."

Nodding a final time as a wicked grin spread across my face, I sucked in a breath, "Time to go all out you guys; Onslaught into Cross Poison! You too Skorupi, Cross Poison! Ember at its chest! Water Pulse to block its vision! Take it out before it can use it's greater strength to pick you off!"

Kahili just threw her head back and laughed after I was done, an ominous feeling creeping over me as the smoke around Tropius began to spread out giving some cov-!

My eyes grew to saucers as two nearly untraceable green blurs shot out of the cloud, a huge green monster shooting right Sting as he darted away just in time. The two blurs mentioned earlier were Razor Leaves, which I only found out after they'd knocked out both Shellos and Numel in a single hit each.

Finally stopping for a bare second and snorting, I could see the grand green beast of my woes, and more importantly, the fruits of the team's continuous fire.

Singed fronds. The edges were ever so slightly singed, and upon second glance there was a smidge of a purple tinge on another.

Paling faster than a fisherman with a leak in the boat, I frantically gestured for Skorupi to hide and fire Poison Sting volleys by making almost a basketball shoot with my hand. I was no good, but I knew the motion from watching the other kids at least.

There was no saving Sting from the absurd-seriously nothing that big had any right to be so quick,- grass type as it barreled into the ground type with a Body Slam and took him out like he was a paperweight against an overeager toddler.

All Tropius had to do in order to sniff out Skorupi was fire off a weak Earthquake and listen for the soft squeak that followed as he made contact with the ground once more.

Or rather, he would have made contact with the ground again. Ruthlessly flung into the distance, even rolling after he skidded against the dirt, my eyes widened and I fumbled with his Pokeball to return him as I had already done with the others.

Gritting my teeth, I whispered that everyone had done well and I thanked them before turning to Kahili, with a smirk on her face to rival Gary.

"Remind me how you got such a monster on your team again?"

She fell to the ground giggling and wasn't able to give a coherent answer until after I gave up and sat cross-legged in front of her. "Tropius is by far my weakest team member at the moment, and your basic strategy wasn't great either. The only thing you did well was teaching your team a few combination moves and have Skorupi hide away, albeit a bit late." She grew serious and gave a sharp look at this mention, "Not many trainers would come up with combination moves until after at least their fourth or fifth badge, only focusing on power and variety. That is your strength, now hone it and keep working towards your goal. I'm headin' off to Celadon to see if we can't do anything to make him feel better, take care kid."

************************************************
Omake time ye wee li'l bah-stards
* 3*
*Ahem* I'm sure you've heard of these before (google it if not I suppose) so without further ado-
Enjoy the chaos.

"So let me get this straight."

"Yes?"

"A ten-year-old, with four Pokemon, four unevolved Pokemon, wants to fight the Champion in a televised match?"

"Yeeeeeeees. And?"

"I don't like curb stomps, but I guess if this letter from Oak is any indication he thinks you can get something good for you out of this no way he actually thinks this kid can 'blow me out of the water'… whatever, let's just get this over with."

"Oh yeah, I'd like to request that you send out all of your Pokemon at the same time please. It's a way for this to look reeeally good alright?"

On his knees laughing, the champion wiped away a tear and drew a hand through his oddly spiky scarlet hair. "I suppose I can humor a kid, can't I? Cameras!"

"Breaking news! A brand new trainer from Pallet has made the most audacious move of the century and has challenged…"

Tuning out the background reporting, we both prepared to throw our Pokeballs as matching lazy grins spread across our faces.

This is going to be fun.

Releasing a single young Skorupi would normally be considered suicidal in the face of a champion level team, until one realized there was something special about this Skorupi; it knew the most powerful and toxic move known to man.

"The Ranked League Community."

An Unstoppable wave of unsanitary sludge swept over the Fearful team of the Champion, Stunned into Silence. The crashing wave Suppressed all actions they could take, Rooted into place by the Taunts that Flashed through their minds as they were almost Charmed into believing they were invincible by this point.

Knocked away and Flung far and wide, Lance's team was unable to pick themselves up, all regretting how they had been Blinded by their strength.

*******************************************

A/N
Whew! I appreciate the reviews more than you guys know!
*Ahem* A-anyway, not gonna lie, I have been using line breaks, but apparently, FFN doesn't like them so ah...
\(*Q*)/

(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-that's a war face!)
Thanks for pointin' that one out for me. I'll go back and update those chapters over this next week or so when I get the chance, but yeah, I quite like how the story is beginning to shape up (it helps to actually plot out my ideas instead of just writing a hugely long tail by ear lol).

O yeah also if you haven't, (somehow, there are like thousands of fics about it honestly)
Check out The Gamer. It's a webtoon, and even if you've never seen one before, just think of it like a manga. In color. And for free. Hope you guys look forward to seein' this story later!

Ja ne!